Down time...

I have got some stuff going on, and may not post this week; service will resume shortly...

Things of beauty...

Can I just start by saying 'OMG' in the truest sense of the acronym?! What a week. Obviously the spate of long weekends has put me completely off kilter, as I could not get my head together in recent days. I drove my car into a wall for no apparent reason. I was a maniac at work, flitting from one meeting to the next in a daze. I spent my evenings trying to sort out Boo's epic science project (you know that scene in 'The Devil Wears Prada' where Anne Hathaway is painting a solar system planet; that was me, except I don't even work for a dragon lady!). Not a moment for anything sensible, I was home alone, falling into bed late to watch SATC reruns as my downtime. P.S. It's at the stage where Carrie is with Aidan but has an affair with Big - Big is at his divinest, naughtiest worst = YUM.

Meanwhile my lovely sister in law is at motherhood week twelve - it's meant to be a milestone where the baby sleeps just that little bit more predictably, but my sprightly nephew was not cooperating. Mutual tears ensued (his, hers and mine) with me trying to empathise, advise, just help her in whatever way I could. That's the thing is with motherhood; no one can do it for you!

A weekend of relaxing ahead, catching up and planning the new few months out in our little lives.

Photograph by Polly Eltes

photograph by Braedon Photography via Once Wed

Olivia Palermo for Tibi Spring 2011

Perfect garden symmetry...

photograph by Polly Eltes

Elie Saab

via solid frog photograph by fabio bartelt for Marie Claire

Country Living photograph by Charlie Colmer

via everything fabulous by miss vu

A simple stroll...

via inspiration pocket by Jak and Jil

Southern Living

I am loving this dress...have no idea where it is from though...hate when that happens!

Weekend relaxing...here I come!

In the world of Lou...

I am having one of those productive days; spurred on by a few terse words between myself and my beloved this morning about the uselessness of our house filing system. I loathe filing. Paperwork and admin are my worst, worst activities. So I shove everything in a drawer and hope for the best until one of those days arrive where something has to be located. Rapid leafing through pile after pile of un-filed paper ensues, until defeat is admitted or the key item is triumphantly discovered! I wish I were more organised...

via tick tock vintage

After the long weekend, I am settling back into the norm of work days and home days, interspersed by the school run. Term time offers the calm of a quiet house during the day, an opportunity to regroup and to not be Mummy for a few hours. But in return is the tyranny of the drop-off/pick-up/homework/sports matches. I like it though, as I get to go running more and to plan appointments for things I normally don't have time for, like the homeopath or beautician. It's pedicure season; one luxury I afford myself in the summer months.

How can it be May already? I feel like April went by in a whirlwind of Spring days; it really was a fabulous month. Now May means Boo's birthday - she will be a whole decade old. Impossible. My Boo? Surely not; I remember when she looked something like this...

via a lady's findings...washing eggs to be sold at the farmers market, near Falls Creek, Pennsylvania, 1940, Jack Delano.

Trying to eat well (as in really trying; have cut out a-l-h-o-t of bad stuff and it's good but also exhausting cooking everything from scratch). But then when food can look as beautiful as this, I figure it's worth the effort.

photograph from Canelle et Vanille - this food blog is just beautiful...

I am just trying to get on top of everything again, trying to be a better me.

Oh and before I forget - here is what I think:

It's gotta be Prince William.

Ballet - all the way.

Bikini - for as long as I can.

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (let's call her Kate as we are between friends...)

Could not live without tea. Chocolate a close second...

Really really want to be plan in advance, but something always ends up last minute (I wish I were more organised!)

Skinny jeans.

Go it alone on holiday planning - did an all inclusive once; probably not again!

Worrier, Worrier, WORRIER!

Emerald.

Light and floral on the perfume front - I wear Diptyque.

'When Harry Met Sally' - all time classic.

Botox - currently no. Think I will stick on that point.

I love getting into summer clothes - we are so deprived on the weather front...sun = instant wardrobe high.

Marilyn Monroe.

First thought...universally it seems we all agree on this: is it morning already?!

Mental note: go to bed earlier!

This one or that one?

When I lack inspiration I find myself writing this sort of blog post...an open 'Q and A' to the world. Like I did here and here and here...it's a little challenge to myself to think of new questions to pose. I think the whole of the country has post-royal wedding blues; whenever I saw anyone over the weekend they would blurt 'what did you think of the wedding?' And of course we would all start a reverie of how lovely it was and wasn't the dress just divine and didn't they look so very happy?

And so, a new week is starting, let's have some happy choices between this one and that one...I will if you will...

via crush cul de sac from Hennes &Mauritz

Prince William or Prince Harry?

The ballet or the opera?

Bikini or all-in-one?

New best friend: Catherine Duchess of Cambridge or Pippa Middleton?

Couldn't live without: coffee or tea or chocolate?

Plan in advance or last minute everything?

Jeans: skinny or boyfriend?

On holiday: All inclusive resort or go it alone?

via crush cul de sac, photograph by Erica George Dines

All-out worrier or 'let it go' optimist?

Gemstones: Ruby or Emerald?

Perfume: light and floral or heady and musky?

'When Harry met Sally' or 'Sleepless in Seattle'?

Botox: yes or no?

Seasonal anticipation: getting into woolly jumpers and boots or getting into soft cotton and sandals?

Of a bygone age: Marilyn Monroe or Katherine Hepburn?

What is your first thought as you wake in the morning?

photograph by Ida Bjorvik

'You look beautiful...'

I just couldn't help but comment on the wedding day! Such a fabulous show; the most exquisite, elegant laced dress, the intimate smiles during the ceremony, the incredible pageantry. Catherine and William looked utterly in love, I found it very emotional and beautiful to watch. And the people outside, the flags, the bunting, the whole thing -  a stunning wedding day. I am so proud to be British  - an absolute jolt of patriotism for me. And, along with the rest of the world, Kate is my new favourite princess...

via tinywhitedaisies via yellowmustache

And my favourite things...best man Harry (wow, isn't he just lovely?), William's unselfconscious words at the alter. How Kate demurely and with respect looked downwards, averting her eyes every time William saluted from the carriage, the lily of the valley; so of-the-season, so subtle. The two kisses, the respondent roars from the crowd, the fact that they did it their way...Congratulations to the happy couple!

Things of beauty...a royal wedding!

At time of writing, the royal wedding remains an unknown of tomorrow. The nation (world) on tenterhooks ready to see our young Prince wed. All week on television, the images of William as a child, with his mother, making our hearts ache in the knowledge that she will not be there to see him marry Kate. But we are all ready to watch, to share in this lovely, romantic national spectacle. For all that is said and written about our monarchy, this event makes me feel so patriotic; I can't wait for my children to see the display, much like I did in 1981 when Charles and Diana wed.

So we will be there, bright and early with a full English breakfast of sausages and bacon! Then champagne and scones with jam for afters!

photograph by Mario Testino

Come rain or shine, you know she's going to look fabulous...

...a gorgeous Burberry trench...

Another brunette beauty...

Penelope Cruz in Spanish Vogue

via coffee and cognac

Here's hoping the happy couple can steady their nerves...

via here

Pink champagne anyone?

via 79 ideas photograph by Suzanne Hansen and Mike Ofeldt

Or strawberry milk smoothie?

via what katie ate

What will THE dress be like?!

from emerson made

via hollyhocks and tulips

via bhldn

union jacks via British Cream Tea

photograph by Jamie Beck from me to you

After all of the excitement I might just have to lie down...

via toast

I'm hoping for a wonderful, utterly British, long weekend...

Hey...Wednesday muse?

Easter is done, the children happily dispatched back to school (in summer uniform as well; nothing like little boys in short trousers and a blazer). I have had more than a glimpse of the sun and have revelled in every minute. Here she goes again about the weather! What would it be like to live in a warm climate? As someone said to me today - England doesn't have any constants in weather; each day can bring a deviation from the seasonal norm. A ten degree temperature differential, day to day, is commonplace.

via bippityboppityboo photograph by Hazel West

I am thinking a lot about me. This must be an indication that all is well with life as my thoughts have shifted from everyone else to myself. I am wondering: am I comfortable in my own skin? I think a lot about the ageing process and so want to be OK with it. I dearly want to just accept it gracefully - where can I find the wisdom to look at my younger self and not feel a tinge of regret that those days have gone? I said I would look forward and I will...but I am finding that the past is filling up behind me, like an enormous sack of memories and nostalgia and it feels somehow greater and heavier than the sack that contains the future. Does that make sense? Is this midlife? Is that what this is? Please distill wisdom...it will be gratefully received!

Today, I am delighted to have some time alone again, I am putting my home (life) back together after the what I have christened to be 'brain haze' of school holidays. Suddenly now focus is regained and I can actually get it together to make that appointment/sort that stuff/make stuff happen. This will, for sure, make me more centred by the evening as I am a simple soul, who likes nothing better than a pile of ironed clothes or soup out of a glut vegetables or a clear table top. It's the getting done that I like.

via bippityboppityboo from here